Call of the Blood
by Darkchilde
Summary: You can never escape the call of your own blood....*chapter 8 uploaded*
1. Late Night Study Session

Disclaimer: Guess what--they're not mine! They belong to Disney--or they DID, before those idiots decided not to pick up the greatest show ever up for a second season! GGGGGGRRRR!! *flexes claws* 

Oh. 

Ahem.

Sorry.

Anyway, this story is nothing like anything I have ever written for this genre. (I mean, it's still J/C, duh, but it's def different!!) This is actually my response to Jordan'sGirl asking me to write a horror--this isn't EXACTLY horror, it's more like...Fantasy. Or at least, it is to me. Whatever. Enough babbling. On the with the story! So, without further ado...

Call Of the Blood

Chapter 1: "Late Night Study Sessions" 

Caitie Roth ran her fingers through her hair, and groaned, eyeing the large stack of books that rested in front of her. This was the absolute LAST time she put something like this off until the last minute. Her ten page report on the literary effects of "The Sound and the Fury" was due tomorrow, and, as of yet, she had exactly--the dark haired girl checked her notebook, and winced--half a page worth of research. Groaning again, in defeat this time, the girl thumped her head against the table and considered not turning the project in at all. 

However, that would considerably lower her grade, and English was about the only subject that she had a decent grade in. And she really wanted to keep it that way. Besides, Ms. Earl was her favorite teacher--she didn't really want to disappoint her. 

Her decision made, Caitie sat back up, and reached for the first book in the stack, a heavy brown book inscribed with the words "Twentieth Century Literary Criticisms", flipping it open to Faulkner's entry. Sticking the red rubber eraser of her pencil in her mouth, she got to work, scratching out almost unintelligible shorthand in her sparkly purple notebook.

Three hours later, her eyes were crossing she was so tired and she was sorely tempted to find and murder every literary critic ever quoted. So far, she had found about two different opinions in the thirty odd criticisms she had looked up, the rest just re-worded and quoted from the first two. Caitie massaged the bridge of her nose with two fingers before slamming her pencil down on the library table. 

"Forget it. That'll just HAVE to do." Caitie muttered, looking over the five pages filled with her chicken scratch shorthand. 

Gathering her stuff, the girl laid it all out in a neat pile, before hefting the large stack of books she had pulled off the shelf, intent on putting them back. Ms. Henry's, the friendly yet hot tempered librarian, major pet peeve was leaving her books out. Caitie really had no desire to be caught in the older woman's line of fire, so she stumbled over toward the shelves, the tower of books swaying precariously in her arms. 

She had almost made it to the research section when she dropped them. The books clattered to the floor with a loud bump bump thu-bump. Caitie would have growled if she had known how, knotting her hands into fists and surveying the books that lay across the floor. 

Gritting her teeth in anger, the young woman knelt down on the floor, and began to collect the scattered books. Suddenly, another pair of hands joined in, long musicians hands, adorned with a silver ring on each index finger. Caitie allowed her eyes to follow the hands up to the face of the person, her mouth opened to thank whoever owned the hands, and nearly gasped in surprise. 

Not because their was anything odd about the way the hands were connected to the arms, or the arms were connected to the shoulder, nothing like that. No, instead it was the smiling face of Jamie Waite that surprised her. Not that there was anything surprising about Jamie's face, of course. Caitie was sure that nothing on Jamie's face could ever shock her--she knew every expression, every niche, everything about his handsome facade. 

It was because it was very strange indeed to find Jamie and his handsome face in a library. Caitie was almost willing to bet that Jamie didn't even know where the library WAS, let alone visit it. 

"Jamie! What are you doing here?" Caitie asked, blinking in surprise at her friend. 

"Had to find a copy of Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man for Ms. Brewster's English." Jamie explained, making a face. The brunette girl snorted, rolling her eyes. 

"Sounds like fun. I'm so glad I'm out of the woman's class. So, why are you here so late? It's almost..." Caitie looked up at the clock that resided right above Ms. Henry's desk, and her mouth dropped open. "Eleven thirty?! I didn't even think that library stayed open that late!" 

"Evidently it does. I had to go in to work right after school today, and I just got off a few minutes ago." Jamie said by way of explanation. "And you? What are you doing here--working on your Faulkner project?" 

"Yes..." Caitie groaned, and then put her hands on her hips. "I basically have two opinions for my paper, and a whole bunch of different ways to word them." 

"Fun." Jamie agreed, making a face. Then he smirked at her, his lips falling almost automatically into his favorite expression. "But I'm sure you can BS your way through it and still come out with an A. You are the QUEEN of English, as you well know." 

Caitie rolled her eyes before striking a dramatic pose. "Yes, all bow before me, for I am the Queen of English, the Tsar of Literature...the...the..." 

"The Empress of Pain?" Her friend suggested, his dark eyes sparkling as the two of them made their way all the way to the research section and began shelving Caitie's books.

"Oh, gee, thanks." She rolled her eyes again, a smile taking the sting of heavy sarcasm out of her words. 

"I call 'em like I see 'em." Jamie shot back. Caitie just laughed, and pushed herself up on her toes, trying to stick a book on one of the higher shelves. However, she still wasn't quiet tall enough, and she began to hop up and down, trying to get the book to go where it belonged. 

Jamie watched for a minute, before taking the book out of her hand and placing it with ease in it's spot. Caitie made a face at him, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out. "Thank you, Too Tall Waite." This time sarcasm was positively dripping from her words. 

He just snorted, and turned back to putting up the rest of his stack of her books. "So, did you drive?" Caitie blinked at his question, finishing shelving her books before turning to him and answering him. 

"No...why? You wanting a ride?" She teased gently. Jamie rolled his eyes, and shook his head no. 

"Do you want me to walk you home?" He offered, flashing her his most charming smile.

"Nah...I'll be fine." Caitie told him, shaking her head back and forth. Jamie gave her a suspicious look, and the petite girl rolled her eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that? I'll be fine." 

"I just don't think you should be walking home alone at this time of night." His eyes were suddenly serious, but Caitie didn't seem to notice. 

"Oh please. This is Kingsport--nobodies going to attack me HERE." The girl told him, brushing of his concerns with a wave of her hand.

"I don't care if it's the middle of the friggin' desert, I'm not letting you walk home alone--not tonight." She'd never heard anyone, let alone Jamie, sound so serious. But Caitie couldn't resist another dig, a smile pulling at her lips. 

"Why? Cause all the crazies are out and gonna get me?" She laughed and was surprised when he didn't. Jamie's mouth was pulled down at the corners, his lips tight and his eyes dark with small creases forming rapidly around his eyes and between his eyebrows. Caitie looked at him for a minute, the smile falling off her face. "Sheesh--if it's that important to you, you can walk me home." 

Jamie smiled at her, a hint of relief playing in his eyes. "Good--cause I was going, whether you wanted me to or not."

"Oh really? How were you going to do that?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow at him as the two of them left the library, Caitie with her purple notebook held tightly to her chest, Jamie with his thin paper back under his arm. 

The young man grinned again, his white teeth flashing in the light of the half moon. "I have my ways." 


	2. All The Crazies Are Out Tonight...

Disclaimer: Still not mine--though MAYBE, if I ask my grandparents REALLY nice, they'll buy the show for me, and then I can do whatever I want with it! YEAH! Okay, so, that's about as likely as this story to ever actually happen, but hey, it's nice to dream. So, without any FURTHER ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter 2: "All The Crazies Are Out Tonight..." 

The half moon shone down from the heavens, illuminating the night in it's strange light. The silvery rays cut through the blackness of the night, giving both Caitie and Jamie light to see by as they walked away from the library, the chilly air making them walk just a bit faster then normal. 

It had been a cold September, following an abnormally hot August. The temperature hadn't gotten above sixty since the first day of the month, and every day had been punctuated by cloudy, gray skies and cold, cutting wind. It rained three days out of four, and the wind blew like a hurricane on the forth day. Caitie listened to the weather every morning, thanks to her mother's avid interest in the weather channel and it's muzak, and it looked like there was no break in sight from the rainy cold weather. 

Caitie's arms were crossed across her chest in an attempt to keep warm, her teeth chattering softly. Dressed in only a short black dress and stockings, she was regretting her decision not to bring a jacket to school that morning. But it hadn't been that cold, somewhere around sixty, but the chilly air set in sometime around lunch time. This was one time she really wished that she had listened to her mother when the woman had ordered her to wear a jacket. 

Suddenly, to her surprise, a heavy warmth was settled around her shoulders, and she looked down at it, shocked. Jamie's black leather jacket was settled around her shoulders, and when she looked back up at her, he smiled. 

"You looked cold."

"Thanks...but aren't you cold now?" Caitie asked, eyeing his short sleeved red shirt, The young man shook his head, running his fingers through his dark spikes. 

"Nope." Jamie promised her, thumping the book against the palm of his right hand. A sudden, cold chill rolled up Caitie's spine, and she quivered again, slipping her arms into Jamie's jacket and hugging herself. 

"Are you sure?" Caitie demanded, eternally grateful but willing to give him his jacket back if he asked for it. 

"Positive. I'm not cold at all. Come on, let's go." Jamie requested, his dark eyes scanning the surrounding area, a hint of something like worry forcing it's way into his tone. 

A horrible feeling set into the pit of his stomach--like a warning of some sort. And it wasn't just the tingling-in-the-bottom-of-your-stomach-to-let-you-know-the-girl-you-like-is-watching-you-so-you-had-better-not-make-a-fool-of-yourself warning, but the -oh-my-God-get-out-of-there-now-are-you're-gonna-DIE-stomach-dropping-heartbeat-thumping warning. Taking a deep breath, the young man began to walk faster, wondering if he could get away with scooping Caitie up and sprinting with her to the nearest shelter. Something told him that the answer to that question was "no", so hae had better hurry up and get her out of there, before whatever it was that was giving him the freaky warning decided to make itself known. 

"Okay..." She agreed, quickening her step to keep up with Jamie's long legged strides. "What is it?" 

"What is what?" Jamie asked, still walking rapidly toward her house, three blocks away. 

"Why are you walking so fast?" His speed had been steadily increasing since he started, and by now, Caitie had to practically run to keep up with him.

"I'm not walking fast." Jamie denied, slowing down slightly so she could keep up. 

"Yeah, right. What's up with you Waite? Afraid that the boogie man's going to get you?" Caitie teased, her dark eyes sparkling in the midnight air. 

Jamie smirked at her, shaking his head. "No, I just want to get you home before something bad happens." He winced when he realized that he had said the last part, and shot a quick look at Caitie to see what she had made out of his statement. 

"Something bad happens? What the hell are you talking about?" Caitie asked, stopping on a dime in the middle of the street.

"Nothing, nothing...come on, let's just go." He tried to cover for himself, reaching out to grab her elbow and tug her along with him. The feeling in the pit of his stomach was getting stronger, and he knew instinctively, whoever it was, they were getting closer. 

"No. You tell me what's going on." Caitie demanded, wrenching her arm free of his grasp and crossing her arms over her chest. The stance didn't quite have the impact that she wanted it to--since Jamie was so much bigger then she was, his jacket sleeves hung past her hands, and when she crossed her arms, stuck out from her at odd angles. 

Jamie had to smile, the feeling in his stomach temporarily forgotten--he was suddenly reminded of his littlest sister, wearing his jacket and lecturing him on "being proper". The girl in front of him glared, and stuck her tongue out at him, looking more then a little annoyed. He had to admit--she looked very cute in his jacket, way better then he ever did.

"What, exactly, do you find so funny?" She demanded, trying the keep the answering smile off of her face, her voice stern and unbending. The Carlson like tone was enough to tickle Jamie's funny bone, and he snorted with laughter, the warning seeming to lessen as he laughed.

"Nothing...just...you look..." More laughter punctuated Jamie's statement, his chuckles making it impossible for him to go on.

"Good enough to eat." 


	3. Moonlight Madness

Disclaimer: Hey, there STILL not mine, haven't gotten a chance to talk to my grandparents yet...hehehe...anyway, I can't think of anything else to say, so without further ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter Three--"Moonlight Madness" 

The harsh voice made Jamie's blood run cold, and he looked toward the sound, his eyes searching for the source of the sound. 

He didn't have to look hard--standing about five feet away was a young man, with wild blonde hair and a scraggly goatee. He looked about twenty, dressed in baggy jeans and a tank top, his well-muscled arms covered with tattoos. The young man grinned at Jamie, showing off a set of pearly white teeth and warned Jamie of his not so nice intent. 

"What do we have here?" The man asked the night, an slightly sinister smile pulling at his lips. The dark haired youth in front of him skin began to crawl. There were others--five, six at the most, a half forgotten voice whispered at the back of his skull. You can handle them...only weapons are chains, and one...one has a knife. You can handle them. Just...

A small sound from Caitie silenced the voice, and Jamie was suddenly reminded of the fact that he was NOT alone--and that he had to get Caitie out of her NOW, before something bad happened. 

Taking a step back, Jamie tried to sense where Caitie was. He heard her take a step forward, and then she was there, her fingers clutching at the back of his shirt--she was afraid, but was determined not to show it. He felt, rather then saw her open her mouth, and he spat out the first thing that came to his mind, just to keep her quiet. 

"Why don't you go find some one else to play with? We're not interested." Jamie drew his shoulders up, his dark eyes flashing with something that the man in front of him couldn't possibly understand or even recognize. 

"Oh really?" The blonde's eyes slid from Jamie to Caitie, who was still hovering behind her friend, trying very hard to hold onto the fear that bubbled at the base of her stomach. "I think that this little piece is VERY interested..."

"You think WRONG, scum bucket." Caitie spat out, her obvious distaste coloring her words, no fear in her steady voice, though it was obvious she had to be scared. "I only go for HUMANS." 

The blond man let his lips pull back into a snarl, and he lifted his hand, signaling the others, Jamie supposed. They certainly weren't professionals, he realized--he could hear them coming a mile away, and apparently, so could Caitie, her grip on his shirt tightening. 

Suddenly, they were all there, five different men, surrounding the two teenagers like a pack of hungry hyenas. Jamie's eyes were black as coal as he surveyed them, and his anger was only heightened by the frightened, half muffled whimper that Caitie let escape from her lips. 

"Why don't you leave us alone?" Jamie suggested, reaching back to put a comforting hand on Caitie's arm blindly. He could almost feel the fear that radiated off of her, and he swallowed hard, anger taking the place of the small pit of fear that had filled his stomach. 

"Excuse me? I believe that WE are the one's giving orders here." The ringleader replied, his eyes flinty. 

"Of course." Jamie relented, the pit of anger in his stomach bubbling over. He knew he could take these guys--all of them. Now, how to get Caitie out of the way so she wouldn't get hurt--or see anything she really shouldn't? 

"Good boy." The blond snapped, stepping forward, the sinister smile still pulling at his lips. His gaze shifted from Jamie to Caitie, and the young man stiffened, a sick feeling rising in his throat. This bastard better not be thinking what I think he's thinking...

The man was closer to Jamie then he realized, the overpowering scent of his cologne making Jamie's eyes water for a minute. Before the dark haired man could clear his vision, a fist caught him unawares, dead center in the stomach, making him double over with a gasp. 

Caitie couldn't bite back the scream that was ripped from her lips when she saw the older man hit Jamie, and her friend go down with a gasp. Oh God, they were going to die! The fear that had been coursing through her veins paralyzed her, and she cursed her own weakness, yelling at her stiff limbs to move, to help Jamie somehow. 

"Grab her." 

Rough hands were suddenly all of her, grasping her arms through the heavy leather of Jamie's jacket, and she tried to keep from screaming again, intent on holding on to what little compusre she had left to come up with some way of getting away from these men and help Jamie. 

"NO!" 

It was Jamie, she was sure of it, but it didn't sound like Jamie--at all. His voice was deeper, if that was possible, rougher, and raspier. Caitie forced her eyes to look at her friend, and was surprised to see him already on his feet, standing up straight, his eyes blazing with fury. 

The ringleader turned back to Jamie, intent on showing off for his lackeys. An evil smile pulled at his lips again, and Caitie wanted to look away, scared to death for her best friend. 

The blond pulled back his fist, intent on beating Jamie down again--and fell, flat on his back, bleeding from his mouth. Caitie gasped--she hadn't even seen Jamie's fists move, and the guy was down, possibly for the count. 

The two gang members that didn't have Caitie dived for the young man, and Jamie smiled, his eyes a bit wild. He couldn't pull any punches--Caitie's life was at stake here, and so was his own. Something inside of him, something he had buried long ago, howled, and Jamie let his smile turn a bit feral. 

The first man to reach Jamie was big and burly, with long, stringy black hair and a scar running down the side of his face. He aimed one beefy fist at Jamie, and swung at him. To Waite, it looked like he was moving in slow motion, and he easily dodged the blow, slamming one of his own into the man's chin. He heard the distinctive sound of breaking bone, and again, blood spurted from his mouth, spilling on to the concrete. 

The second man grabbed at Jamie while his friend was having the lights beat out of him, wrapping to long arms around Jamie, pinning his arms to his side. The dark eyed youth smirked at the sad ploy, and kicked his booted foot backwards, connecting with the man's ankle. Again, the sound of breaking bone, and this man went down, same as the first. 

By this time, the ringleader was back on his feet, and madder then a hornet. However, he'd also learned his lesson the first time, and was eyeing Jamie wearily. The dark eyed young man flashed him the same feral smile as before, preparing himself for another rumble with the leader. 

Caitie's terrified shriek was the only thing that could have pulled his attention away from the coming fight. The two men that had a hold of her were discreetly trying to pull her away from the fray, but she was having none of it. 

"Let her go." Jamie growled--literally. His lips curved back over his lips, his pointed canines looking more pronounced in the moonlight, the strange light bouncing off the pearly whites. 

He smelled the ringleader's cologne coming closer, and, without even turning all the way around, clubbed the man across the face. The blonde went down with a choked, garbled gasp, telling Jamie that he was down for the count. 

The feral grin once again pulled at his lips, and he stepped forward, his hands knotting into fists. Caitie could feel the other two men trembling, but they still held their ground, obviously deciding that she would be their insurance policy. 

"I'm not going to say this again--let her go." He did not shout the words. He didn't have to. The expression on his face, the aura of power that surrounded him disregarded the need for heat or passion. These men would let her go, because he told them too--she was almost certain of that. 

"No!" The more foolhardy of the two men declared, turning to run, and at the same time, twisting Caitie's arm at an angle no arm was meant to go at. The girl couldn't stop the scream of pain that ripped through the night, and she silently cursed herself through the haze of pain. Damn it, Roth, get a grip on yourself--all you've done is scream since this little testosterone fest began!

Jamie was true to his word--he did not tell them to let her go again. Slowly, he walked forward, until he was so close that Caitie thought she could reach out and touch him if she tried hard enough. They locked eyes for a minute, and she was suddenly flooded with the sense that everything was going to work out okay; he wasn't going to let anyone else hurt her. The feeling lasted but a instant, but it reassured her to some degree. 

That reassurance was destroyed by what happened next. 

The man that had tried to run, slowly turned around, his face blank and his movements jerky and mechanical. The man on her other side let her go, and Caitie nearly crumbled to the ground, relief flooding through her. She scrambled toward Jamie, afraid that the two men would grab her before she got a chance to get to the young man.

However, before she got to Jamie, the two men collapsed to the ground, holding the side of their heads, their faces twisted in silent agony. The girl gaped at them, before turning to Jamie--and froze.

Caitie had known Jamie for nearly six years now, since he had first moved to Kingsport. They had been friends from nearly the moment they had meet, the kinds of friends that knew almost EVERY thing about the other one. Caitie often prided herself on the fact that she could almost tell exactly what Jamie was thinking, just from the expression on his face. 

But this...she had never seen his face look...like _that_. 

The deepening shadows of the night danced across his face, making him look eerie, dark and...evil. By contrast, his teeth glowed in the strange half light of the moon, looking razor sharp and deadly. But it was his eyes--his normally beautiful deep brown eyes--that captured her attention. Fire flashed in his eyes, rage and agony and hatred and some many more emotions that she couldn't name. The depths of his eyes seemed alive with something that she didn't understand...something that, a soft voiced whispered at the back of her skull, she could never fully understand. 

Caitie meet his eyes, and a wave of emotion, all the emotion she had seen boiling in his eyes, suddenly overtook her, slamming into her like a physical force. She cringed back, instinctually covering her head with her hands. 

And then it was gone, and Jamie's warm, loving hands were supporting her as she tottered on her feet. 

"Caitie...Caitie are you okay?! Tell me your okay!" The desperation in his voice was so plain Caitie could almost taste it. However, right at that moment, Jamie's worry was the last thing on her mind. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision, looking up at the young man she had thought she had know so well. She was suddenly shocked by the clarity of the realization that had just come to her, and she pushed away from his, her heart beat banging in her ears. 

"How...how did you do that?"


	4. Midnight Discussions

Disclaimer: Not mine, all Disney's--for the moment. This whole "stealing the boys from Disney" plan that Bea, Arcadia, and Mo cooked up (I don't know the details yet, but I plan on finding out tonight!) is starting to sound like a REALLY good idea! :) Anyway, I don't have much else to say besides that, except that I own Jade Kwan, Jamie's mom and sisters, and heck, I even own the town (I think) that Jamie comes from. To my knowledge, there is no town called Tueur de Loup--though I could be wrong! Don't shoot me if I am! Anyway, with out further ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter 4- "Midnight Discussions" 

Jamie swallowed hard, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair. Oh Lord--what was he going to do NOW? 

Caitie stared at him, her eyes boring through the walls that he had carefully constructed years ago, seeing right into his soul. For the first time in his life, Jamie felt exposed and vulnerable, her beautiful hazel eyes his undoing. 

How could he...how could he explain? How could he tell her? _Could _he tell her?

She would never understand, a voice whispered in the back of his skull. You can't tell her.

But...she might. He argued with himself, losing himself in his thoughts.

"Jamie?" Caitie whispered, her voice soft and scared. The young man looked up at her, and swallowed again at the sight of the fearful and bedraggled, though still beautiful, picture she made. 

Her long brown hair had come out of the two pigtails she had had it in before, and now the thick locks hung in her face, obscuring most of her features. Her lips were parted and trembling, as if she had just been kissed senseless, but her cheeks were too pale and her eyes were too dark. 

He could still smell the perfume of fear radiating out of her--only, this time, it was different. 

This time, it wasn't nameless strangers, intent on robbing, raping, and possibly killing her that she feared. 

No this time, it was him. 

The thought of Caitie fearing him made his guts twist, and he turned away from her, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed. Fear, he knew, was the beginning. Fear led to anger, anger led to hate--hate led to pain. Jamie had learned that lesson a long time ago, and he had vowed to never let it happen again. 

Before he knew it, his feet were pounding down the concrete sidewalk, carrying him away from the fear he saw in Caitie's eyes--fear that he knew, knew without a doubt, would soon be replaced with hate. Hate that he didn't think he could go through again--not from her. Not from Caitie. 

"JAMIE!" Caitie called to his rapidly retreating back, her heartbeat increasing. What in the world? What was going on? "Jamie, where are you going?!" 

But he was already gone, out of earshot, and she was left alone--alone with her questions and the gnawing pit of fear that was growing steadily more stronger in the pit of her stomach. 

What was even worse, she realized, was the fact that she wasn't sure that she knew her best friend.

At all. 

---=====**=====---

The echo of the slamming door rang in Jamie's ears, and he leaned against the hard oak of the heavy door, his fingers clenching and unclenching around the golden knob sporadically. 

This was bad. 

Scratch that, this was very very VERY bad. This was, possibly, the worse thing that had ever happened, shy of loosing his father and being sent to live with people that he didn't know or understand--even now, after nearly three years of living with them.

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, trying to calm his raging emotions down. Okay--it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be. Really. 

Then why did his heart feel like it was going to burst through his chest, and why was every instinct that he possessed--human and not--screaming at him to run, as fast as he possibly could? 

The shrill scream of the telephone cut through the darkness surrounding him, and Jamie jumped half out of his skin. Taking yet another breath, he ran his fingers through his spiky hair, and moved into the kitchen of the two story, white house that he had lived in for the years that he had lived in Kingsport, Virginia. 

Since the phone had rang three times, and no one else had answered it, Jamie assumed that no one else that lived in his house was there at the moment. Which was odd since it was--his eyes darted to the clock--one o'clock in the morning. 

Wait--one in the morning? Who in the world would be calling him at one in the morning? 

Scooping up the phone out of his cradle, Jamie held it to his ear. However, before he got a chance to speak, an all to familiar voice tinged with sarcasm and the barest hint of an Irish accent rang through his ears. 

" 'Bout time." 

Jamie blinked and a small smile pulled at his lips. "Jade?" He asked, surprised. 

"No duh! Who else would call you at--what time is it there? Two? Three?" Jade Kwan asked, and he could almost see her almond shaped green eyes twinkling. 

"One." Jamie reminded her, rolling his eyes. "I thought you were suppose to be a genius or something?"

"Screw you, Jamie, I am a genius." 

The young man couldn't stop the snort of laughter that welled up in his chest. Why was it that even after everything that had just happened to him that night, that Jade could make him laugh within a minute of talking to her? 

A fond smile pulled at his lips, his mind slipping back through the years in an instant. 

Jade Kwan had been his friend--his best friend--since they had been two years old. His first memory was of the first time he had ever seen the tiny, green-eyed Korean-Irish girl in all her stubborn beauty. He had just turned two--she had been only twenty months old. His father had brought her home, claiming that the little girl had been standing, with her arms crossed, in front of her mother's house, in the pouring rain, completely and utterly refusing to even think about going in the house like her mother was screaming at her too. Kathleen O'Leary, Jade's unwed mother, had finally given up, storming into the house, her long black hair streaming behind her. 

Sam Waite, noticing the little girl on his way home to his wife and son, had simply gone over to her and asked her if she would like to get out of the rain. After a minute of serious consideration, the little girl had consented, allowing Sam to take her to his house next door. 

From the very minute that Jade had been set in front of Jamie, they two had been the best of friends. Their similar stubborn natures had, strangely enough, complimented one another perfectly, and the two had shared a bond that was impossible to break. Jade was, actually, the only person in the world, outside his family, that knew him--utterly and completely. 

"So--what happened?" Jade asked, her voice turning serious. Jamie let the smile drop off his face, as the events from the past few hours caught up with him again. 

"I...I think...someone...God, Jade...she...she SAW me..." 

A choked sob threatened at the back of his throat, but Jamie shoved it back, willing himself to hold onto his emotions. 

"Saw you--what do you mean saw you?" A pause, and then he heard Jade gasp, low in her throat. "You mean--SAW you-saw you?" 

Jamie nodded, then mentally smacked himself--she couldn't see him through the phone. "Yeah." He muttered, all the fear and pain from before flooding through his system once again. 

"What did...what did she say?" Jade asked, her voice uncharacteristically worried.

"I...I left before she could really ask." The young man admitted, and he heard Jade snort. 

"Isn't that just like you. What are you going to do now?" She asked, still in her deadly serious tone. 

"I...I don't know. I might...I mean, I have to..." Jamie trailed off, unable to put into words that half formed plans that were whirling through his mind. 

"What? You might what--leave? Run away? Like before?" Jade challenged--in his mind, he could see her expression, her thin eyebrows drawn together, her small, bow shaped mouth pulled into a deep frown, and her deep green eyes spitting emerald fire. 

"If I have to." Jamie breathed.

"Jamie!" The exasperation in her voice was apparent. "Not everyone in the world is like the people in Tueur de Loup!"

"How would you know?" The young man challenged, his hackles going up. 

"I'm not!" 

"You're different." 

"I am not! Saints and crooked angels, Jamie, you're enough to make a girl pull her out!" Jade informed him, even though there was an undercurrent of understanding in her tone. "I know what happened before..."

"So why are you yelling at me?" 

"But that doesn't mean that you have to hide what you are from the entire world!" Jade continued on, as if she hadn't even heard Jamie's comment. 

"What I am? What I am is a freak of nature!" Jamie could feel tears burning at the back of his eyes, but he blinked them back, once more fighting for control of his emotions. 

"You are NOT a freak! You're just...different." Jade stressed, but her argument fell on deaf ears. 

Jamie gave a coarse laugh, the kind of laugh that you expel when there's nothing else you can do. "Yeah right." 

"There's nothing wrong with being different." Jade told him, trying to make her see his part. 

"Tell that to the people that killed my father." Jamie snarled. He could almost hear Jade wince, but he knew that she realized that his anger wasn't directed at her. For a long moment, she was silent, and h knew that she was fighting tears, the way he had been moments before.

"That wasn't you're fault." 

"Wasn't it? If I hadn't been born, my father would still be alive." 

"Don't say that!" He could hear her tears now, and it ripped at his heart--this was the second woman he held close to his heart that he had hurt tonight. But, try as he might, he couldn't stop the flow of words that spilled from his heart and his self-loathing. 

"You know it's my fault...if I had been more careful...if my father hadn't tried to protect me..." Jamie told her, trailing off. 

"Then you would be dead, instead of him!" Jade wept, anger coloring her words. 

"Maybe it would have been better that way."

"Stop saying that!" Her words were cut off by a sob, and Jamie wanted to die for making her cry. 

"Jade..." He whispered, wishing that she was still living right next door instead of across the ocean. 

"How can you say things like that? Don't you know that I would DIE if you were gone? And your mother and Sami, Molly, Crimson and Jazz? Jamie..." Jade trailed off, her voice cracking on his name. 

"I'm sorry Jade. I'm sorry--but I...I just can't shake the image of how...of how Caitie looked at me...it was just...just like the way that Delphine looked before..." Jamie stopped speaking, his eyes darting to the window. The lavender light of a false dawn dance across the sky, the silver light of the moon waning. 

"She would understand Jamie, I know she would." The girl on the other of the line tried to tell him, but Jamie shook his head. 

"I don't think so..."

"She might--I did." Jade reminded him. "Why don't you tell her?" 

"Okay, let's just say, for a minute, that I was to take your insane advice and tell her--how exactly would I go about explaining something like that?" He questioned, allowing the more serious part of their conversation to slip to the back of his mind, vowing to think more about it later. 

"The same way you told me."

"Jade, we were four!" 

"So, what's your point?"

Jamie shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips. No matter how important the topic was, Jade just could not remain serious for more then fifteen minutes at a time, it seemed. 

"My point is, I don't think going up to Caitie and saying 'Hey, guess what, I'm a werewolf! Cool, huh?' is going to fly." Jamie informed her.


	5. Child of the Wolf

Disclaimer: They STILL don't belong to me, unfortunately. Grrrr!!! Anyway, I really can't think of anything to say on this, except that I want to read more of Mad Cow's Road Lore series (HINT HINT MC...), so without further ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter 5--Child Of the Wolf

The first rays of dawn were a welcome sight to Jamie Waite. The beautiful, blood red light danced across the floor, turning the dark brown of the carpet a fiery mahogany, and it illuminated the rest of his aunt and uncle's living room with the same crimson colored light. 

A smile touched Jamie's lips at the red of the light--it was almost the exact shade of his younger sister's hair, and it always made him think of twelve-year-old Crimson. 

A touch of melancholy settled in his heart, joining the desperation and fear and pain that had taken up resident there last night. He hadn't seen his family in almost a year now--he really needed them now, more then ever.

The young man leaned back in the arm chair he was currently sitting in, watching the sun rise slowly over the horizon. So what was he going to do about Caitie? Jade thought he should tell her; she thought that the other girl would understand. 

Did he think that Caitie would understand that he wasn't, exactly, human? Would she still accept him? Still be his friend? 

He didn't know. And that, more then anything, was killing him. 

---==**==---

"Have you seen Jamie?" Caitie asked her best friend, Val Linar as soon as the girl reached her locker later that morning at school. 

"Jamie? No, not since last night. How come?" Val asked, tilting her head to the left and looking at the dark haired girl. 

Caitie bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from spilling the entire story to Val. Some little voice in the back of her neck whispered that she shouldn't tell anyone about what had happened last night. Whatever had happened, whatever Jamie had done, the voice whispered, he doesn't want anyone to know about. Don't tell anyone. 

"Oh...umm...no reason." Caitie swallowed hard, and turned to her locker, and began to twist the combination, trying to open the locker door. 

She twisted the numbers, and then pulled down on the lock. It stayed locked. Blinking, she tugged harder, but the silver bar refused to move. Looking down at the dial on the lock, she winced--the last number of her combination was 14. She had twisted the dial to 41. 

Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair, and put in the correct combination this time, opening her locker. She reached in to grab her History book, her mind still whirling with the events of last night. 

After Jamie had left her standing the middle of the sidewalk, she had been so shocked that she couldn't move for almost fifteen minutes. She had no idea what was going one, but one thing was very clear: _something_ important had happened. Something that involved Jamie, something that he didn't want her to know about. 

But for the life of her, Caitie couldn't being to fathom what it was. 

After she had finally regained the use of her feet and her mind, Caitie had walked home, her eyes darting to and fro like a rabbit. She really wished that Jamie hadn't left--whoever those guys that attacked them were, they had scared her. 

When she had finally reached her house, the girl had run up the steps to her room, completely ignoring her parents . She had locked herself in her bedroom until this morning, her mind still replaying the scene from before with Jamie and the gang bangers over and over again. What had happened? Had Jamie done that? If he had, then how? 

Caitie wasn't sure. And it was driving her insane. 

Sighing, the girl dragged herself out of her thoughts, and checked her lip gloss out of force of habit in the tiny mirror taped up inside of her locker. Her heart skipped a beat at what she saw instead. 

Standing down the hallway from her, his arms crossed over his chest, was Jamie Waite. He didn't look any different then he had yesterday, the rational part of her mind realized, but at that moment she wasn't thinking rationally. 

It wasn't that he looked different, she realized after a second of looking at him in her mirror. It was more like she had just noticed something about him, something that had always been there, just under the surface, and now she saw it clearly, for the first time. Whatever it was. 

Turning slowly, Caitie meet his eyes through the crowded halls of students. For a second that seemed to stretch on forever, they simply looked at each other, dark eyes meeting hazel eyes. A slow chill passed up Caitie's spine, and she swallowed hard taking a step forward. 

But before she could take one more step, Jamie was gone, disappearing into the throng of students that milled around the hallway. 

Cursing under her breath, Caitie vowed to catch up with him sometime today to ask him about last night. 

---==**==---

But Caitie didn't get a chance to ask him about last night's events. 

Every time she saw him in the hallway, he went the opposite way as soon as he saw her. The one time she almost caught her, he ducked into the men's room, and stayed there. Caitie had waited until two minutes after the bell rang, but he never came out. 

She didn't seem him at lunch, either. He wasn't under the bleachers, he wasn't in the cafeteria. She had finally broken down and asked some of her friends if they had seen him. Brianne mentioned she had seen him heading towards the library, but when she got there, he wasn't there. 

He even skipped the two class periods that they had together!

Obviously, Jamie was avoiding her, Caitie had come to realize. And that just made her even more worried and confused about what had happened the night before. 

Sighing, the girl continued her walk toward the EMS station. She knew that he was on duty today, and he might just go into work--she seemed to be the only person that he was avoiding; she'd seen him talking to Val and Tyler between third and fourth period. But when she had approached them, he'd left in a hurry, leaving behind only the barest hint of his cologne. 

Caitie slowed to a stop as she reached the station. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and headed for the door. Jamie was GOING to talk to her--he didn't have a choice in THAT matter. 

---==**==---

"Are you avoiding Caitie?" Val's question caught Jamie off guard, and he looked up from his History book in surprise. 

"What?" Was his intelligent reply, his eyebrows knitted together. 

"Are YOU avoiding CAITIE?" Val asked again, lifting one of her eyebrows. 

"What makes you think I'm avoiding anyone?" Jamie dodged her exact question with the ease of long practice. 

"Well, she thinks you are." The blonde told him, putting her hands on her hips to emphasis her point. 

"Who thinks I am?" Jamie questioned innocently, looking back down at his History book. 

Val made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl, before turning and stomping away. Jamie looked up at her out of the corner of his eye and sighed softly. Thankfully, all he had to do to get Val to leave him alone was to be a difficult as possible. 

It was almost too bad that it didn't work on Caitie, Jamie reflected. She never gave up. Of course, that had always been something he had liked about her--no matter how annoying he was, she just kept right on pushing. It actually put him in mind of his mother and his younger sister Crimson. 

Jamie let a smile touch his lips at the memory of the several 'wars' that had gone on in his house between himself and Crimson when they had been younger. They had both sworn up and down that they hated one another on more then one occasion, but when the one had been threatened by some one outside their family, the other had been the first one to jump to their defense. Sometimes the only person Jamie felt he could talk to was Crimson, even though there was nearly a five year age difference between them. 

The sound of hard plastic shoes on tile caught his ears, and he inhaled through his nose. A soft, spicy sweet smell filled his nose, and he closed his eyes. No, Caitie NEVER gave up...

"Jamie." Caitie's voice, coming from right behind him, wasn't OVERLY hostile, but he could tell that she was mad and a little upset about the way he had been treating her today. And really couldn't say that he blamed her. 

Closing his book, he stood up slowly, turning around to face her. But he found, when he got all the way around, that he couldn't face her. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on her feet, wishing with all his heart that last night would just, some how, some way, just disappear. 

"Jamie, would you please look at me?" Her voice was more sad now then mad, and it almost gave him enough strength to look up into her beautiful eyes. Almost. 

"Fine." Caitie said sharply, and he heard the whisper of the fabric that made up her sleeve brush together. She was crossing her arms over her chest, a move he knew meant she was upset. "Jamie...would you please--" 

The blaring of the alarm cut her off, and Jamie snapped his head up, heading for the door. He slipped past her, and she turned to let him. But just as his arm brushed by, she reached out and grabbed it, forcing him to look at her. 

"Jamie--please...just..." 

"Jamie, let's go!" Hank's voice yelled to his squad mate. Jamie gently detached his arm from Caitie's grip and allowed himself to look her in the eyes since this morning. 

"I'm sorry...I...I gotta go." 

---==**==---

The ambulance, carrying the four teenagers that made up squad 182, screeched to a halt in front of nice, normal looking house. In the front yard, two adults, a man and a woman, stood with a six year old in between them.

"Ma'am, Sir, my name is Hank, and we're emergency medical technicians. What seems to be the problem?" Hank asked, professional as ever. 

"There's...there's something in the back yard! A...a mad dog!" The woman wailed, clutching her daughter and husband tighter. 

"A...dog..." Hank trailed off, exchanging looks with the rest of the squad. "Has it hurt anyone?" 

"No, but it's going to! I know it! You have to do something about it!" The woman continued to wail, her eyes wide and worried. 

"Ma'am, this is really a job for animal control..." Hank tried to explain, holding his hands up in a calming manner. 

"PLEASE!?" The woman cried, burying her face in her husband's shirt. He gave the squad an apologetic look, shrugging his shoulders. 

"I don't really think it's that dangerous---Carol's just terrified of dogs." The man explained. 

"Ahhh." Hank allowed, nodding his head. 

While all of this was going on, a soft voice had been whispering at the back of Jamie's mind. Something was trying to tell him...something. And whatever that something was, it was in the backyard of these people's house.

"Look, why don't I check it out?" Jamie volenteered, already heading across the yawn. 

"Jamie, come back here!" Hank ordered, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I'll be fine." Jamie called back, already disappearing around the house. 

He slowed to a stop when he reached the middle of the backyard. Several trees stood clustered at the far right corner of the house, and his heart nearly skipped a beat. A pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at him from the dark shadows of the small groove. 

A FAMILIAR pair of glowing yellow eyes. 


	6. Crimson Waves

Disclaimer: Do you have any idea how bothersome these things are?! I hate writing them! I still don't own, they still belong to those people that own them, and I'm still not making money. There, I said it, can I GO now?!

Call of the Wolf

Chapter 6: Crimson Waves

Jamie swallowed hard, his heartbeat banging in his ears. It couldn't be...could it? How was it possible? What was she DOING here? She KNEW better... 

Taking a deep breath, the young man let it out slowly, and opened his mouth to speak. For a moment, no sound came out. He coughed, clearing his throat, and ran his fingers through his hair.

What if he was wrong? Could it really be her? There was only one way to check, he supposed.

The glowing yellow eyes danced like fireflies in the darkness of the trees. Slowly, Jamie stepped forward, wondering why she was still hovering in the background. Steeling himself, the young man knelt on the ground, and laid his palms flat against the bare earth--"I'm not here to hurt you' the gesture said. 

The yellow eyes seemed to glow brighter then, and before he knew it, a slick black wolf darted out of the shoulders and trotted toward him, her jaw hanging open in a lupine smile. Her tail wagged back and forth as she sat down in front of him, her strangely intelligent eyes glimmering.

Jamie took a deep breath, trying to control the emotions surging through him--joy, anger, panic, confusion all mixed together in a whirlwind of emotions to the point that he couldn't fully decipher any of them. 

"What are you doing here?" He hissed, laying his hand on the top of her head, her thick black fur sliding across his palm like silk. 

She continued to give him the lupine grin, batting at him with one of her still to large paws. The young wolf was barely into adolescence, still keeping her too large appendages and still fine fur. But she was bigger then a cub would be, marking her as being about one wolf year old. 

"Well?" He pressed, eyeing her in annoyance. The girl-wolf seemed to realize then that he wasn't simply asking rhetorical questions--he wanted an answer, and he wanted it now. 

Pulling her head away from his hand, the female wolf walked a few feet away from him and stopped, turning around and sitting down on the ground, facing him. For a minute, she just sat there, eyeing him in amusement, her gleaming white teeth sparkling in the sun. 

Then a cloud of pure white mist sprang up around her from out of nowhere, completely barring the wolf from all eyes. A surge of electricity seemed to charge the air for a moment, all of the hair on Jamie's arms standing on end. The scent coming from inside the cloud changed, and then the could was gone, leaving a young, naked red haired girl kneeling on the grass in front of him. 

She looked up at him, through her long red hair, her deep brown eyes glimmering. "Hi Jamie." 

"Crimson--what are you DOING here?" Jamie asked his younger sister again, staring at the girl in shock. 

She smiled, a smile that matched his, and stood up, her long hair covering most of her body--but not all of it. Jamie, slightly embarrassed, shrugged out of his heavy EMS jacket, and threw it to her. The girl caught it effortlessly, slipping it over her shoulders and eyeing her brother mischievously. 

"Missed you too, bro." Crimson teased, pushing the sleeve of his jacket up so that her hands were free. 

"Crimson..." Jamie trailed off, glaring at her. 

"Jamie? Jamie, who are you talking to?" Tyler's voice called from around the house, and a second later, the young blond man appeared. Val and Hank in tow. 

"Did you find the...dog?" Hank asked, catching sight of the young girl standing behind Jamie. He pointed to her, lifting his eyebrows. "Who's that?" 

"Umm...this is..." Jamie trailed off helplessly. How exactly was he going to explain this without giving away things that he REALLY didn't want his squad mates to know?

"I'm his sister." Crimson told the overachieving duo, walking up until she was standing right beside her brother. "What's it to you?" 

"Well, what are you doing out here? Do you live around here Jamie?" Val asked, ignoring Crimson's attitude. 

"Umm...no, not really. Crimson...well, Crimson is...uhh..." Jamie could not seem to think of any lie that sounded the least bit plausible and that he could get Crimson to go along with. 

"It's not really any of you're business. Why don't you just go back to you're little ambulance and go back to saving human's lives?" The twelve year old red head asked. 

To Jamie's shook, the trio nodded, turning around to head back around the corner. However, they had only gone three steps when Hank stopped and turned around, looking at Jamie. 

"But what about Jamie? He needs to come with us..." Hank trailed off. 

"No he doesn't. Just tell whoever that he got sick or something. You're all training to be doctors--I'm sure you can come up with some sorta of illness." Crimson told him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Hank nodded again, and turned--but not quick enough for Jamie not to see the blank look across his features. He knew instinctively that Tyler and Val wore similar expressions etched across there faces, and he turned furious eyes on his sister. 

"CRIMSON!" He snarled, as soon as the trio was out of earshot. 

"What'? Oh, quite looking at me like that. It's not like I hurt them or anything..." Crimson's comment brought back another memory from last night, and Jamie flushed guiltily before looking back at his sister. 

"Still, you shouldn't have done that. You could get them into trouble!" Jamie stuck up for his friends. Crimson snorted, and waved her hand dismissively. 

"Yeah right." 

"You know you can't just go controlling people like that, Crimson! If Mere knew.." Jamie threatened, and Crimson blanched. 

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But really Jamie, how ELSE were we suppose to get out of that little tête-à-tête?" Crimson loved to use phrases that made her sound older then her twelve years. 

Jamie sighed in defeat, knowing that she was right. Changing the subject, he ran his fingers through his hair, and let a small smile pull at his lips. 

"What are you doing here, little sister?" 

"Miss me big brother?" Crimson asked, her eyes sparkling. 

"You know I did." Jamie allowed, reaching out to pull the younger girl into a hug. Crimson hugged back for a minute, before wiggling out of his embrace and giving him a serious look. 

"I missed you too, but that's not really the reason I'm here." 

"Then what is?" Jamie's tone matched her serious one perfectly, his dark eyes worried. 

"It's complicated. And I really don't want to do it in public. Can we head to your house?" Crimson requested, running her fingers through her in a gesture reminiscent of her older brother. 

"Yeah--this way." Jamie pointed to the left, and the siblings seat out, slipping past the house of the terrified woman and her apologetic husband with no trouble. They slowly made their way down the concrete sidewalk, Crimson chattering away about what she and the rest of their family had been up to since the last time they had seen each other. 

Jamie just soaked it all in, taking comfort in being with one of his sisters again, some that shared his blood, shared his curse. Of course, Crimson really didn't see what they were as a curse--she was still to young to really and truly understand that power that she held in her hands and played with so uncaringly. Jamie sighed--unfortunately, he understood that power all to well.

The two eventually made it to Jamie's house, Crimson still holding his jacket closed with one hand, and gesturing wildly with the other as she bubbled a story about Sami's misadventures with a skunk. It never failed to amaze Jamie how quickly his little sister could switch moods--she went from deadly serious to bubbly and happy in the space of three seconds. Jamie smiled--she reminded him of Jade that way.

"Whose that?" Crimson stopped in the middle of her story, her feet halting movement when her mouth did. 

"Whose who?" Jamie asked, falling her line of vision. He winced at what he saw, running his hand over his spikes again. 

Sitting contently on the front steps of his house was a young woman with shoulder length dark hair and wide dark eyes. She was dressed in a short black dress and knee high red socks, with high heeled boots on her feet. 

No, Caitlin Roth NEVER gave up. 


	7. You're a What!?

Disclaimer: Crimson is mine (like anyone else would WANT to claim her) and the rest of the hoodlums belong to Disney. (Whose park I just walked all over. Lord, my feet hurt--still!!) Anyway, that's all I have to say, except I'm sorry this took so long to get out this part--hopefully, the other parts will be along shortly. Anyway, without further ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter 7-"You're a WHAT!?"

For a long minute, no one spoke. Caitie slowly stood up from her seat on the front steps, brushing the back of her skirt off and eyeing Jamie carefully. He stared back at her, his throat and mouth suddenly going dry He should have expected this. He should have KNOWN that Caitie wasn't just going to give up and let it go. Crimson, for her part, stood next to her, waves of confusion rolling off of her. 

He peeked at his sister out of the corner of his eye, and noticed her eyeing Caitie in confusion. The younger girl caught his expression, and shoot him a questioning look. Jamie shook his head almost imperceptibly, giving her a look that spoke volumes. 

Clearing his throat, Jamie turned his attention back to his friend, meeting her eyes for the barest of seconds before dropping her eyes back down to his feet. He couldn't look into her eyes--not yet. But he had to talk to her. So, taking a deep breath, he forced the words past his throat. 

"Caitie...Caitie, what are you DOING here?" Jamie asked, trying to hold on to his composure and not doing it very well. 

"What do you think I'm doing here, Waite? You OWE me an explanation, and I'm not leaving until I get it." Caitie told him firmly, her eyes locked firmly on his face. 

"Caitie..." Jamie trailed off, swallowing so hard his Adam's apple bobbed. "Caitie, I..." 

"Explain what?" Crimson asked, looking at her brother in confusion. 

Caitie jumped, startled, before turning her eyes from Jamie to his younger sister. Jamie could read the expression in her face quite plainly, and he swallowed, gesturing toward the little red haired girl carefully. 

"Caitie, this is my sister, Crimson. Crimson, this is my friend Caitie." He introduced them, hopping that maybe he could throw Caitie off the scent for a little while by introducing a new variable to the equation. 

Boy, was he wrong.

"Yeah, whatever. So, listen, are you gonna tell me what's going on or not?" Caitie demanded, not even looking at the petite redhead next to him. It wasn't that she meant to be rude, Jamie was sure--Caitie could just be extremely single minded at times.

"Yeah, hi." Crimson allowed, eyeing the girl again, this time in distrust. Turning to her brother, she lifted her eyebrows. "What's she talking about Jamie?" 

"Umm...well..." Jamie trailed off, looking down at his feet. 

"What, you're not even going to tell you're own sister?" Caitie questioned. Suddenly what her mouth was saying caught up with her brain, and her mouth dropped into a perfect 'o'. "And since when do you have a sister?" 

"Since always." Crimson shot back. "AND I'm sure he's ALREADY told me, I'm just not sure exactly what it is." She smirked at the older girl, noticing the way she bristled. 

"Crimmie..." Jamie warned, his tone one that she knew not to mess with. Crimson obediently shut up, but not with out a girl in her brother's direction. That small problem was taken care of--he really didn't relish the idea of getting caught in the verbal onslaught that he had sensed coming on between his little sister and his best friend. Turning to Caitie, Jamie opened his mouth, and hoped that whatever lie came out of his mouth was the tinest bit plausible. 

"Caitie...I...ummm...I..." 

Okay, so that was obviously not going to work. Swallowing hard, the young man ran his fingers through his hair, and tried to meet Caitie's gaze. 

Her dark eyes swallowed his gaze, and he winced, a shot of pain knifing through his chest. Her beautiful eyes were glimmering with the need to understand what had happened, the need to understand _him_. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't look into her beautiful eyes and tell her that he was...a monster. 

Turning his head away, dropped his gaze to the brick walkway that lead to his aunt and uncle's doorway. He could feel Crimson's gaze shifting between him and Caitie, and knew with out any doubt what she was thinking. 

Caitie watched him turn away from her, and her heart twisted. Why wouldn't he tell her what had happened? What could be so bad that he couldn't tell her? Weren't they close? Didn't he trust her? Before she could stop her self, those words were out of her mouth. 

"Why won't you tell me Jamie? Don't you trust me?" 

"Yes...yes! I trust you...I just...I just..." Jamie stuttered, before turning fully away from her, giving him his back. "Caitie...please...don't...ask...please?" 

"Um--time out!" Crimson's voice broke through the tension that had risen between the two older teenagers. Caitie jumped--she had almost forgotten that Jamie's little sister was standing there, watching the by play. "Would some one PLEASE stop and REWIND for the confused little twelve year old who would really like to know what was going on?" 

"Crimmie...it's nothing." Jamie told his sister, and Caitie knew he was lying by the way his left eye ticked. 

"Liar." Obviously, Crimson knew her brother as well as Caitie did. 

"Crimson..."

"Jamie..." 

"She...umm...Caitie..." He clarified. "Sorta...um...saw...me."

"Saw you? Saw you what? Naked?" Crimson made a face. "No wonder she wants to know what's going on." 

"CRIMSON!" Jamie groaned, trying to fight the small smile that was trying to make it to his lips. He really had missed his loud mouth little sister, except for the times that she purposely tried to embarrass him. 

"What?" The red head asked innocently, turning her attention from Caitie to her brother. "What?" 

"Nothing." Jamie groaned, putting his hand up to his head. 

"Okay, seriously now, what did you see him do? Did you see his tongue trick?" Crimson was really on a roll now. 

"Tongue trick?" Caitie couldn't help but ask. 

"Yeah it involves--mmph!" Jamie clapped his hand over her mouth to keep her from continuing, his cheeks suddenly bright red. 

"Don't ask." Jamie begged Caitie. She lifted an eyebrow, a ghost of a smile pulling at her lips. But then she remembered what she had had come her for, and the smile disappeared. 

"I don't want to know about the tongue trick. I wanted to know what you did the other night." She was getting really tired of repeating herself. \

"Yeah, I wanna know about that too!" Crimson decided, giving her brother one of her patented "you'd-BETTER-tell-me-or-I'll-embarrass-you-even-more!" looks.

"Crimson...she...umm...saw...the..._thing_ that was got from mom." Jamie hedged, hoping his sister would understand his meaning. 

"Our...eyes?" Crimson asked, confused. 

Jamie shook his head. "The other thing."

"The...other...YOU MEAN SHE FOUND OUT YOU'RE A WEREWOLF!?" 

Jamie winced, just as Caitie's gasp of shock filled his ears. Turning around to face her, he winced. Her skin was gray, and her eyes were very dark in her face. But then her faced cleared, and she glared at him and his sister. 

"Very funny. Now tell me the truth." Caitie demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Umm...that is the truth." Jamie told her, surprised at the relief that was suddenly flowing through him. Caitie was screaming hysterically yet, and she hadn't tried to kill and/or hurt either him or his sister, so this might actually work out for the best. 

"Werewolves don't exist." Caitie told him, but her shaky tone took the validity out of her statement. 

"That would be--incorrect!" Crimson informed her, doing her best impression of a game show host. "I'm SORRY, but you've just lost fifty thousand dollars!" 

"They don't." Caitie ignored Jamie's sister, her eyes locked on the young man's face as though if she looked at him long enough, she could get him to take back his previous statement. 

"You're wrong." Jamie told her, his voice soft and shaking.

What was he doing? A little voice screamed in the back of his skull. Why didn't he just tell Caitie that both he and Crimson had been kidding? Why didn't he agree with her? Was he out of his _mind_!?

Yes, he was. Well, not really--he was just tired. He was _tired_--exhausted of running away from his past, worn out from hiding what he was from Caitie, just weary of hiding period. 

"You're lying." Caitie needed desperately to believe that what he was saying wasn't true. Werewolves--werewolves weren't real. Werewolves were inventions of writers and directors, figments of some reality impaired people's imaginations. There was no way that her best friend, her Jamie, was a...werewolf. Just no way. "Tell me you're lying." 

Gazing up into Jamie's dark brown eyes, her heart lurched into her throat. 

There was no tick. 

There was no mistaking the truth in his amazing, ethereal eyes. 

He was what he said he was. 

Her best friend, someone she thought she knew inside and out; some one she loved very much; someone she had always thought was perfectly normal---was anything but. 

The world spun around in front of her very eyes, and Caitie Roth crumpled to the ground, unconscious. 


	8. Blood on the Moon

Disclaimer: Not mine, ALL Disney's! Well, some of them are mine..umm...Crimson is! Yeah, I own her! Okay--as for some of the description of werewolf kind in this chapter, I don't own that either. A lot of that comes from Susan Krinard, the amazing author of Touch of the Wolf  and Once A Wolf, two books that inspired me to write this story. The phrase loups-garous is hers. Hommage, not stealing, was intended when I used this word, and other ideas that she had of werewolf kind. (Really, I'm not kidding--she's an amazing writer--her books, while considered romances, are WELL worth the read, even if you hate romance!) Anyway, I know that it's been forever since I got the last chapter out, but I hope that you enjoy it...so without further ado...

Call of the Blood

Chapter 8--Blood on the Moon

The first thing Caitie focused on when the darkness retreated was a pair of large brown eyes made darker with concern. Dark brown eyes the same shade and shape as Jamie's, with even the same mischievous twinkle that his eyes constantly held. However, these beautiful eyes did no belong to her best friend and partner in crime--these were bigger, and there wasn't any of the softness that she always saw in Jamie's eyes when he looked at her. The femininely long lashes didn't make much of a case for Jamie, either. 

Blinking to clear her vision, Caitie got a better look at the person with that the exquisite eyes belonged to. High cheek bones and a slightly pouted mouth combined with a round nose and chin were a sharp contrast to Jamie's more hawk like features--sleek and sharp. Waves of crimson hair hung down around the young girl's face, and Caitie blinked again. 

"Well...it's about time you made if back to the land of the living." Heavy sarcasm lacked the voice that came from the bee stung, pouty red lips hovering about a foot away from her face. 

Wait...that voice. Where had she heard that voice before?

Her dream! The bizarre, over the top dream about Jamie being, of all things, a werewolf, and having a smart mouthed little sister. A smart mouthed little sister that looked suspiciously like the girl hanging over her. 

"Who...who...?" Caitie couldn't pull her thoughts together enough to form a coherent sentence, and even if she could have, she wasn't sure she would have been able to force the words past her closed up throat. So, after a few more seconds of sounding like a hoot owl, she gave up. 

"Are you always this articulate?" The girl asked, lifting an eyebrow, in an expression oddly similar to Jamie's favorite "don't be an idiot" look. 

Caitie glared at the girl as best she could, even though her head was pounding. The younger girl just rolled her eyes, before glaring back. Something about the girl's baleful stare tripped a foggy memory in Caitie's still-half asleep brain--remnants from her dream, strangely vivid, almost life like danced in her mind's eye like images on a movie screen. Jamie's hurt brown eyes...the way he turned away from her...a sadness that she have never noticed before, shimmering in the depths of his eyes.

"What happened?" Caitie muttered out loud to herself. But the red head heard her, and lifted an eyebrow. 

"You don't remember?" The young girl's words were still laced with a sarcastic edge that was far to adult sounding for her youthful appearance.

"I....no. Where's Jamie? What's going on? Where am I? And who are you?" The lump in Caitie's throat was suddenly gone, and everything that she had been trying to say suddenly came spilling out. 

"On the roof; got me; my aunt and uncle's house; Crimson Waite. Satisfied?" Crimson asked, cocking her eyebrow again. 

"The roof?" Caitie asked, tucking a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. "What's he doing on the roof?" 

"Brooding." Was Crimson's sharp reply, and she glared at Caitie, her eyes betraying what she was thinking. _About you_ where the words she didn't utter, but where plainly written in her expressive brown eyes. 

Caitie looked away, swallowing hard. Everything from her supposed dream came flooding back to her at that moment, and she shut her eyes, her heart pounding in her ears. So it was true. Jamie was a werewolf.

What exactly do you say to something like that? How do you react? 

What are you suppose to say in a situation like that? 

An image of Jamie's handsome face, laughing at something some one had said danced into her mind. This vision was replaced by the memory of him holding her after everything with Brianne. Next was the way he had smiled when he had won that first race in the motocross meet where she had met Bobby for the first time. A thousand different images of her friend danced in her mind, and she swallowed hard, her heart beat banging in her ears. 

So Jamie was a werewolf. 

So what? 

"Where did you say he was? On the roof?" Caitie asked, looking over at the younger red head, standing at the end of the couch with her arms crossed. 

"Yeah--finally wrapped you're brain around the truth?" Crimson asked, the sarcastic edge still present. 

Caitie decided not to answer Jamie's little sister's remark, just heading for the stairs, and, she hoped, a way out onto the roof--and to Jamie. 

---==**==---

The stars were beautiful tonight, glimmering in the heavens like tiny diamonds on black velvet. The moon was a almost two thirds of the way visible, the silvery blue light spilling down through the sky, turning everything it touched to silver. 

Jamie Waite sat staring up into the sky, blind to the beauty that unfolded in front of him. Pain exuded from his hunched frame in waves, his face was a mask of agony. 

Jade had been wrong.

It was happening again--God, he should have known better. He should have known not to tell Caitie, should have never used his "powers" in front of her.

But, really, what else could he have done? She would have _died_ if he hadn't done what he had done. 

So, what was worse--having Caitie hate and fear him, or having her dead?

As much as the thought of Caitie hating him hurt him, he knew that it was better--a thousand times better--then having her be dead. So in that light, he really couldn't begrudge her the knowledge that she had gained--it had saved her life. 

But it still hurt.

Jamie leaned forward and put his forehead against his raised knees. A sob rose in the back of his throat, but he quickly pushed it back, controlling the pain that was welling up inside of him. He couldn't break down--not with Crimson in the house. She would surely sense his pain, and come looking for him--he didn't want her to see him torn up, knowing that it would only set her even more against Caitie then she already was. 

The soft creak of the window opening caught at his ears, and he winced. It seemed Crimmie had already picked up on his feelings, and was coming to check on him. 

The scent that wafted past his nose was spicy and sweet, and hinted at jasmine and violets. Caitie. 

"Caitie?" Jamie called, not even turning around. 

"Yeah." She whispered as she sat down beside him. He didn't look up at her, just continued to stare out at the sky, his profile tight and controlled. "Who else would drag themselves onto a roof for you?" Her attempt at levity fell flatter then a pancake run over by a steam roller. Caitie winced when Jamie finally turned his gaze on her, his eyes darker and sadder then she had ever seen them before. 'Sorry." She quickly covered, dropping her eyes to look at her hands. 

__

She can't even look at you now--she can't stand the sight of you. A small voice whispered at the back of his head, and he looked down at his hands, the waves of pain he had been fighting so hard to contain crashing over him again. 

"So...umm...how did you...ya know...like...find out?" Caitie asked after a minute of awkward silence. 

"Find out? Find out what?" Jamie asked, confusion joining the riot of emotions that swirled in his expressively beautiful eyes. 

"That...ya know...you were..."special"." Caitie clarified. 

"Special? That's not exactly the word I would use." Jamie muttered under his breath, not intending for Caitie to hear him. But she did anyway, and gazed at him questioningly. Knowing her question before she voiced it, Jamie cleared his throat and looked down at his interlaced fingers. "Cursed is the word I use." 

"Cursed? You mean by a witch or something?" Caitie asked, knitting her eyebrows together. At Jamie's stilly bemused and baffled look, she snorted. "Oh come on! You're telling me that their are _werewolves _ running around the world, but no witches?" 

Jamie let the ghost of a smile dance on his lips for a mere second, and shook his head, lifting his eyebrows. "None that _I've_ ever heard of." 

"Ummm...okay..." Caitie chewed on her bottom lip for a minute, as another pregnant pause stretched out between the two friends. "So--you never did answer my question." 

"What question?" Jamie hedged, studying the dirt under his right thumb with avid interest.

"How did you find out you were...you know...a werewolf?" Caitie asked, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. 

Jamie's shoulder's heaved in silent sigh, and he stared hard at the stars for a minute. No, not the stars, Caitie realized as she followed his gaze--the moon. He was looking at the moon like he was expecting it to provide all the right things to say. 

"I've always known." 

"What?" Caitie asked, baffled. "How could you always know something like that? I don't understand. Didn't you have to get turned into one, or something? Get bitten by a rabid wolf or something to that extent?" 

Jamie looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and another ghostly smile played on his lips. Caitie found herself wondering if the ability to convey so much emotion with just a twist of the lips was a werewolf thing or a just a Jamie thing. 

"You've been watching to much Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Jamie informed her rolling his eyes. "You can't be _changed_ into a werewolf--you have to be _born_ werewolf." 

"Born? So...it's like an inherited thing?" Caitie struggled to understand, creasing her eyebrows together. "It's a...a gene?" 

"Umm...yes and no." Jamie allowed, looking up at her quickly before dropping his eyes back down to his hands. 

"How so?" Caitie couldn't help but be fascinated by what Jamie was telling her. Sure, it was sorta weird and even a little creepy--but those were the kind of things that she liked best. 

"Werewolves...aren't exactly human. We're a different...well.... The word they use for themselves is loups-garous. Well, true werewolves do." Jamie hated explaining what he was out loud. Just saying that he wasn't human, wasn't even the same species as humans, brought back all the alienation and pain he had lived with all his life. 

"True werewolves? What, there false ones running around?" Caitie asked, leaning forward unconsciously. 

"No." Once again, the ghost smile returned, but was gone in a few nanoseconds time. "But there are half werewolves." 

"Wait--half? How can you be half a werewolf?" Caitie asked. 

"Same way you can be half anything." Jamie told her, shrugging. "One parent is a werewolf, one's a human." 

"Wait--okay, I might not have gotten the best grade in biology, but even I know that's just a LITTLE bit weird. 

"Not really--see...ummm...ever seen that movie "X-Men"?" He asked.

"Yeah--we went and saw it together, remember?" Caitie asked, a smile slid across her face at the memory of how she had moaned and groaned when Jamie had begged her to go see it with her--and she had wound up rather liking it. The smile fell off her face when her brain screamed that that was another time and another place--and nothing would ever be like that again. 

"I remember." From the way he intoned the words, she could tell her was thinking the same thing she was--how nothing could ever be the same. He shook it off after a few seconds, continuing with his explanation. "In the movie, mutants and humans could have children together, right? And there was a fifty percent chance the kid would be a human, and fifty percent that it--wouldn't. That's how it works with werewolves." 

"It's an all or nothing deal?" Caitie deduced. 

"Yeah." Jamie nodded. "But, you can carry the gene, even if you're not a werewolf. So, even if you married a human, you're child could still possibly be one."

"Is that what happened to you?" She asked, studying his profile again with wide brown eyes. "Is that why you live with you're aunt and uncle?" 

"How'd you know I live with my aunt and uncle?" Jamie's head snapped around and he looked her in the eye for an instant, before once again dropping his gaze. 

"Your sister--what's her name? Red?" 

"Crimson." 

"Oh." Caitie paused for a second, before restating her question. "So, is that why?" 

"Is what--oh. No, that's not why." Jamie suddenly found something in the exact opposite direction from her fascinating. 

"Then...why?" Caitie pressed. 

"I don't want to talk about it." Some how, even facing away from her, Jamie managed to convey the hurt that was probably reflected in his beautiful brown eyes. 

"I think you need to talk about it." She laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to coax him back into looking at her. "Come on, just tell me." 

"No." Jamie was going to be stubborn about this, Caitie could tell. 

"Why?" Caitie asked.

"Because I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I just don't!" Jamie suddenly exploded, vaulting to his feet, tossing her hand off his shoulder. Caitie cringed slightly, glad that the piece of roof that they were sitting on was relatively flat, or Jamie might have gone tumbling off the house.

"Jamie..." Caitie stood up as well, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"No!" It took Caitie a minute to realize that her best friend was close to tears. 

"Jamie..." She whispered again, walking forward slowly until she was standing close enough to reach out and put her hands on his back, hugging him from behind. When he didn't pull away, she laid her cheek against the smooth leather of his black jacket, her heart pounding in her ears. What was she doing? Why was she doing this? 

__

Because Jamie needs you. A small voice in the back of her head whispered, and Caitie knew that it was right. 

For a minute, no other sound was heard in the world--and then a choked sob filled the air, and Caitie tightened her grasp on Jamie's wiry body. 

"It's my fault...my fault...I killed him..." He wept openly. 

"Who Jamie?" Caitie whispered, an uncalled for surge of terror leaping in her guts. "Who did you kill?" 

"My father."


End file.
